Jammin with the Cosmo Gang

Everything I know about Cosmo Gangs is here

[jammergangyeah]

Cosmo Gangs Show Series (World)

On a early flyer for Cosmo Police Untoucher (the arcade game) the subtitle states that this is the first release of the Cosmo Gangs Show Series. It's also on the concept art for the machine itself. But the final game has Cosmo Gangs World as the series name.

Cosmo Gangs Show looks like it was an early name for the unified series concept that later became Cosmo Gangs World. The Series name didn't seem to last long though.

(the cover of the internal comic, from the Hamster live stream for the Arcade Archives release for Cosmo Gang the Video)

Right on the cover of the internal comic that only Namco insiders would have seen, is the proper Cosmo Gangs World title that would go on to be used for other entries and for merch releases like the plushes.

This would be a place where it's ok to use the Show name and yet it wasn't. This comic had to be made at least before December of 1992 because that is when the test episode debut with the Winter Vacation Special of Comic Bom Bom.

Looks like this comic may have been the first use or proper entry into the World series while the game came out shortly after.

More about that game and how the comic could have been linked to it in the next post.

[jammergangyeah]

A little bit about Ototoness

(Because I went through the effort of correcting his name on older posts and I wanted to explain at least a little more about him, prepare for a long post)

Ototoness (オットットネス) is a member of the Cosmo Police that fights the Cosmo Gang! He's the leader of a special unit of the police called Untoucher. As the leader he is the Cosmo Police character that is seen the most often in the series. Him and Cool because they are the two characters that take the lead in combat.

Ness has the white Hyperbeat and his Patobeat which seems to belong only to him.

(Ototoness in the Patobeat with 4 other members of Untoucher behind him. A colored version of this art was used to promote the arcade game Cosmo Police Untoucher, not to be confused with the comic of the same exact name.)

It's unclear when he was introduced into the series but was seen in Cosmo Gang the Video!... in the manual that is. He never appears in the game proper and thanks to the concept art shown off Cool is known to be the character in the gold player one hyperbeat. He isn't even player one in his own debut game!

(From the back of the SFC box for the Video)

In the Video he's seen as player 2 in the white hyperbeat. Both him and Cool work together to defeat the Gangs that get in the way and take down Don Cosmo who's hiding out in Ankoku! Ankoku is like this artificial planet base that the Cosmo Gang made. At the end of the Video the place is destroyed but Bakuto survives in the end (also spoilers for an over 30 year old game).

While not seen in the Video, Ness was featured as the second player character in The Puzzle! Instead of Jammers he has Pipopapo Tai police bots that he puts in the play area. When cleared they are sent to the 1st player's screen.

The 2p mode is the only place he makes a physical appearance but Ness is seen in the form of a ice sculpture in the background for the later puzzle mode stages.

In some promotional material for the comic Cosmo Police Untoucher (コズモポリスアンタッチャ) Ness is described as being a hot blooded hero with a high sense of justice! He's clumsy but likes sports. Ness is a nickname that is used in the comic. I think this description also applies to the games. In the manual for the Video (SFC home release) he's described as a policeman among policemen.

In the comic it's shown that Ness hates worms. So much so that he tries to get out of fighting by becoming a cheerleader, instead of the team leader. Not that it lasts long lol

Ness and his affinity for sports shows up in the climax where he uses an overhead kick to send the thrown Bakamonder back at Bakuto and his giant worm monster (yes that's part of the plot for this one)

And Ototoness from earlier in the story.

Link to the comic: https://archive.org/details/img-5439_202501

Ototoness got his own arcade game in Cosmo Police Untoucher!

Here the player controlled Ness as he used is Patobeat to hit the Jammers and other enemies that would appear. If the player reached a certain high score they would get a prize. That being a figure of a character in the Cosmo Gangs World! In pink!

(These figures in the ad were just painted for promotional purposes)

Ness also has a voice in this game! I wasn't able to find anything about the voice actor/actress though. He sounds energetic and cute! As for the figures there seem to be at least two versions of him. The first one where he's holding his gun, and a second where Ness holds a badge instead. There's also a figure of the Patobeat itself.

There is also a plush version of Ototoness!

This larger one is the only one I've seen but I've also seen smaller keychain-like versions of other characters like the Jammers and Cool. So there is likely a keychain version of Ness that exists, but just hasn't shown up online yet. He is the main police character after all!

His last apperance is in Dodongadon (also called Belly Bomber) on the machine itself. Only as a cameo though.

On a screen too, bro is not even in the same location.

After this point the Cosmo Gang series seems to have ended. Characters like the Jammers are referenced sometimes but never Ness or any of the police characters for that matter. If Cosmo Gang does get a mention, it's going to be the Jammers or Bakuto.

I made this long post just to explain about Ness and because he's one of my favorites. I just think he's cute and fun.

[jammergangyeah]

Part 4 of the concept art posts: About Bumpy

In the previous vehicle post I talked about Bumpy, the big combat ship that the Cosmo Police Untoucher team is seen in sometimes. It might have been featured more in the comic but it is never seen in any of the games (video or arcade elemecha).

There is some concept art of it that was shown off during the Arcade Archives stream for Cosmo Gang the Video.

(Concept art for the inside of Bumpy, created by Mr. Meida)

I like how they have plants(?) to the sides lol.

The first time we get to see inside! There is even text showing where each character would be but it's too blurry to read! The only one I was able to read was Doricon to the far right. And the bird Bakamonder since he's pictured.

I made this image based on what I could read from the video on where I think each of the members would be stationed. May not be 100% correct.

There is also some sort of description(?) to the bottom left but I also couldn't read that.

[jammergangyeah]

Part 3 of the concept art related posts: Another manga has arrived

(from: https://www.youtube.com/live/cu-OkPwbvJw?t=3983s )

This is another Cosmo Gang manga that seems to have been made by Mr. Meida, the character designer for the series. It was found with the other concept art as featured for the Arcade Archives release for Cosmo Gang the Video.

Unlike the other comics that were featured in Comic Bom Bom, I don't think this one was ever published anywhere (again, as far as I know.)

NG Namco Community Magazine (Monthly Issue 51) - February 1993 (600DPI) : Namco : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

NG Namco Community Magazine (Monthly Issue 51) - February 1993 scanned in at 600DPI with a Fujitsu fi-7460.Both PDF files are OCR'd and have

On page 25 there is an interview with Hamada Yoshimi, the mangaka for Cosmo Police Untoucher. The top right corner features a picture of this same cover with some text (google translated) describing that this was made as an example to be used for creating the full comic.

The story would have been something about the police fighting the Cosmo Gang but I don't know any details other than that. I did notice something interesting though.

Within the concept art for Cool there is one where he is wearing the standard Cosmo Police uniform and on the cover of this comic he's also wearing it. This implies that this story was taking place sometime before Cool became a member of the Untoucher team. Him being on the cover could mean that he was an important character in the story.

There are now a total of 8 lost episodes of the comic. The one that was found was for April 1993 :D

[jammergangyeah]

Part 2 of the concept art related posts: the bosses of the gang (and related news at the end)

(from this: 第417回 アーケードアーカイバー コズモギャング ザ ビデオスペシャル！ video again) The concept art for the series and characters were created by Mr. Meida.

The three bosses of the Cosmo gang, from left to right they are Zamasu, Bakuto, and Bang. Zamasu is a slightly different color but that could just be the markers that were used in the image. What is not a simple difference is the fact that he has normal ass feet. Most of the time his legs are completely robotic but not here.

Bang has grey clothes, where he normally has green. It looks like the designs for the other 2 bosses were still being worked on when this art was drawn.

(Three distinct Jammers that seem to be part of Bakuto's gang.)

From left to right their names are Bell, Flower, and Parasol. I can't read much else of the text here (it's too blurry) but these look like they would have been close to Bakuto in some way. They have matching items on their head that lines up with their names.

I don't know about Bell and Flower, but Parasol has been seen in the comic.

(section from the Untouchable Cosmo Police comic, episode unknown, has been seen on the blog before. Image from a sale listing for the issue of Comic Bom Bom that featured the comic.)

The Jammer in the Ufo with the parasol on their head! Right in the center of the image. Unknown how much of a role they had or if the other two distinct Jammers appeared as well.

In related news:

Mr. Meida has graduated from Namco! 😊😭

Cosmo Gang is my favorite work of his (it's obvious) and I have been gushing over all the art he made for it since I found that Arcade Archives video! The one I have been linking in all these concept art posts. His art is so cool I hope to be that good someday! Hell this whole blog is about gushing over Cosmo Gang!

[jammergangyeah]

Concept art postings 1

Ness but, real. I had to see this and now I share that with you. I will not be alone in this.

[jammergangyeah]

Part 1 of the concept art posts: the player 1 ship in the Video

Just the other day I found out about this Arcade Archives video where some concept art for Cosmo Gang is shared! I got so excited when I first saw it that I could not say anything until I calmed down! And there is too much to put into one post so it will be divided into parts as I see fit. Video:

第417回 アーケードアーカイバー コズモギャング ザ ビデオスペシャル！

アーケードアーカイブスシリーズの公式番組です！PS4、Nintendo Switch、Xbox Oneで展開中の「アーケードアーカイブス」、「アケアカNEOGEO」シリーズのゲームをご紹介し、シリーズの最新情報を発信する公式番組です。東京・駒沢にあるハムスターの86スタジオから生

This time I'll be talking about the player ships in Cosmo Gang the Video. Here there are two ships called the Hyperbeats. A gold/yellow ship for player 1 and white for player 2. Before I just saw the leader Ototoness in the white ship, but didn't know if any art existed for the yellow ship so I could not tell for sure who the player 1 character was meant to be. well...

It's Cool in the player 1 ship! So he's the main character, and not the leader Ness, for some reason...

Cool is described as having the best aim or being the best shooter in the Cosmo Police so I guess it's fitting that he would want to take the lead in a shmup like The Video.

And here's Ness in the white Hyperbeat for comparison.

[namcotdudeidk]

Hey, I haven't talked about Cosmo Gang in a bit!

Here is the Cosmo Gang track included in Namco Video Game Graffiti Volume 7, an album released as part of the Namco Video Game Graffiti series of releases, in 1991.

Visit Original Link

[jammergangyeah]

nice

[jammergangyeah]

Cosmo on your phone (I-mode)

Well, not your phone, but someone's phone!

In the past Namco had some games that could be downloaded or played on Japanese I-mode cellphones with the Wonder Page (service or the page itself?) I don't have the exact details yet but this seemed to be a paid service with a subscription fee each month. There were free trial versions of games for non-members.

There were (at least) two versions of Cosmo Gang the Puzzle on there, one where you only played against a CPU, and one where you could play with other people. There are 5 difficulty levels in the game, as compared to the 4 in the arcade and console versions (unless there is a 5th secret difficulty I don't know about!)

The single screenshot here looks similar enough to the other versions, minus some details like the background of the play area and the player character ship being at the top. There are the scores and stats for each player or CPU, I believe that the right side has the stats for the main player though, because the next piece is also being shown in that area. The picture in the top left looks like the other player/ CPU's play area. Not sure about the E, B and Y letters though.

There are still some details from the other versions. If you look in the center of the screen on the third line from the bottom you can see a sleeping Jammer! Something they only do when left on the play field for some time! There's also a Pi Po Pa Po Tai robot seen on the 2nd row, dropped by the competing player/CPU because this player is putting Jammers on the field. There is no video but I can guess that pieces turn in the same way as the console version, where only the positions change instead of the sprites rotating.

The game(s) were on the service from at least September of 2005 (date for one of my sources) but the exact date is not known to me right now. If I find any more details about i-mode, the Wonder Page, or this game/games then I will update you all!

Sources used:

Namco distributes manga "Noroi-chan" content in categories

imode - AppCarrot

imode - AppCarrot

[jammergangyeah]

Cosmo Bazooka likely never got a full release

Namco Elemecha Encyclopedia - Supplement : Namco : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

This lists many of the elemecha machines/games Namco has released up until the year 1995, but there is one strange thing I have noticed. Cosmo Bazooka is not listed despite being first sighted in 1991. So what I think is happening here is that only games that got a full release are listed in the encyclopedia. The only confirmed location Cosmo Bazooka was at was in the first version of the Wonder Eggs theme park. There is not much video or pictures for the game so it must have not been around for very long.

I think that Cosmo Bazooka was being tested in a few locations, but it never worked out so the game was never fully released to the public. It did take up an entire room on its own.

As for the Cosmo Bazooka in Wonder Eggs, it was likely put there when the park opened in 1991 and kept there since it already fit into the space that was given to it. I'm not sure how long that Cosmo Bazooka was there and if it remained during the rebrands of the park...

[jammergangyeah]

Cosmo Gang Comic Find!

Special thanks to anonymous user 128 for this find! From the April 1993 issue of Comic Bom Bom! Link -> Cosmo Gang’s World: Untouchable Cosmo Police (April 1993 Comic Bom Bom) : Yoshimi Wamada : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

I have too much to say right now but I do love the art for this comic! It looks like the official art for the series but more silly and it's just so cool that this was found!

This episode seems to be how the Untoucher team met the monster bird called Bakamonder! This bird does have a figure in the figurine set but I have not seen it anywhere else until now!

It's sakura season and Don Cosmo wants to see some sakura trees but plants don't grow well on Ankoku so he takes it out on Bakuto. Meanwhile on the planet everyone is just chillin with the sakura trees.

It was calm until the trees start moving on their own! Also apparently Doricon can see through objects.

It was worms, Cosmo Gang branded worms! Bakuto shows up ready to attack with his army of jammers and now these worms!

Cosmo Gang worms are more of a threat than you would think and the team ends up surrounded by worms. Luckily, Bakamonder can eat the worms!

Also that cheerleader is not a random new character, I believe that is a crossdressing Ototoness, good for him!

All the worms left fuse into a big worm and catch Bakamonder in some string but now Ototoness can come in and save the day! In the end he has to pick worms out for Bakamonder! I forgot to mention at the start but Ototoness hates worms.

Now for a few more notes I could only put here at the end.

-Cool seems to have different types of guns and some sort of headset on his left ear.

-Bakamonder is Pearl's pet bird that she just got for some reason.

-Sometimes Ototoness is called "Ness" here so it must be a nickname for him!

I didn't post the whole comic here (just most of it because I got too excited while taking about this :3 ) so please use the link at the top to see it for yourself!

2026 edit: slight correction to the leader's name (Ototoness)

[jammergangyeah]

Hello! I’ve seen your Tumblr page and I’ve gotten into Cosmo Gang recently. I really appreciate your posts! I managed to get a hold of the April 1993 edition of the Cosmo Gang’s World: Untouchable Cosmo Police manga in Comic Bom Bom, and I uploaded it entirely onto Internet Archive here: https://archive.org/details/img-5439_202501/IMG_5423.jpeg

So far, it’s the only full upload of a single episode of the Cosmo Gang manga. I haven’t translated it fully yet, but I made sure that the words are legible. I hope you enjoy it!

AAAAAAAAAAAHhhhhhsnswie j you are the BEST my guy!

[jammergangyeah]

Thanks to an online resource -> おれたちボンボン団 I can determine exactly how many episodes there were of the Cosmo Gang comic "Cosmo Gangs World Untouchable Cosmo Police"! This comic was created by はまだよしみ (Yoshimi Wamada)

Another resource I used -> RANDOM HOO HAAS .:. Scans & Bits (Comic Bom Bom)

-1st episode (?) Comic Bombom Winter Vacation issue 1992

The first issue of the comic is here but the series didn't continue until February 1993. The site above lists the 1993 issue as the first in the series so this issue in the Winter Vacation special must have been a test episode of sorts. All the other episodes can be found in the regular issues of Comic Bonbon

-1st episode (of the proper series) February 1993

-2nd episode March 1993

-3rd episode April 1993

-4th episode May 1993

-5th episode June 1993

-6th episode July 1993

-7th episode August 1993 Final Episode!

The comic stopped being published after the final episode and was never reprinted. The series could have ended for any reason, It could have been a story that ended naturally, or it may have been canceled.

The only things I can find from this comics are images that were published online but not the full comic or even any full episodes.

[jammergangyeah]

Quick correction to the timeline

In the first timeline post of mine I stated that it was Cosmo Gang the Video that established the Cosmo police characters. I am now wrong because of the discovery of Cosmo Bazooka, it came out in 1991 before the Video! The corrected timeline would look like this

Cosmo Gangs (redemption game) 1990

-First game! Fight off the Jammers (Cosmos) that are trying to steal your energy! Can be played with one or two players.

Cosmo Bazooka 1991

-A 6 player game (or 1-6 players?) where players hit the Cosmo Gang members with balls from a bazooka. The game is mostly lost but seemed to be the game that introduced the Cosmo Police.

Cosmo Gang the Video 1992

-Shooter game where the player used the Hyperbeat to defeat the Cosmo Gangs!

Cosmo Gang the Puzzle 1992 (1993 SFC)

-A puzzle game (that's not Tetris!) where the player would line up Jammers and containers in a way where all the Jammers could be knocked out with a ball! Can be one or two player. There was a SFC port that added the 100 puzzle mode.

Untouchable Cosmo Police Feb 1993 (*Dec 1992)

-A comic that released in Comic BomBom. *There seems to be a test run/ pilot episode that came out in December of 1992.

Cosmo Police Untoucher (redemption game) March 1993

-Not to be confused with the comic with the very similar name. (In Japanese the comic is called "Cosmo Gangs World: Cosmo Police Untoucher" while the game is just "Cosmo Police Untoucher".) For the comic I used the name that some manga sites use to help differentiate the two.

-This is a game where the player controlled Ototoness in the Patobeat and would hit/ run into the Cosmo Gangs! If the player got a high score they would win a figure of a Cosmo Gangs World character!

Namco Game Sound Express Vol 8. 1993

-While not a game this is a cd that contains some music tracks from The Video and The Puzzle. It also came with a booklet that had comments from the developers and had pictures of some characters.

Dodongadon / Belly Bomber 1994

-A spinoff (?) that focused on the Dodongadon character. Players would roll balls at Dodongadon to hit them in the bellybutton that was the weak spot.

2026 edit: slight correction to the leader's name (Ototoness)

[jammergangyeah]

Cosmo Gang the Puzzle ad

NG Namco Community Magazine (Monthly Issue 50) - December 1992 (600DPI) : Namco : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Ad for Cosmo Gang the Puzzle as found in issue 50 of NG magazine! Wanted to put this here now as this issue came out in December :3

[jammergangyeah]

A community has been made⭐

Join Jammin with the Cosmo Gang • Community on Tumblr

Cosmo Gang Club ☆ Run by jammergangyeah (meii)

I made a tumblr community for the Cosmo Gang! It's run by op here and just have fun posting over there :D

[jammergangyeah]

Vehicles

Talking about the various vehicles seen in Cosmo Gang!

Boss UFO:

The ufo Bakuto is seen using and the same ufo seen on the very first Cosmo Gang elemecha game. Found in pretty much every part of the Cosmo Gang series. In Cosmo Gang the Video Bakuto uses this ufo to give himself and extra hit and can be seen sitting in the ufo during the first challenge stage based on the original Cosmo Gangs. In Cosmo Gang the Puzzle the Boss UFO is seen again as Bakuto's ship as he is the first player character. The exact size of the ufo seems to vary.

Mini UFO:

The ufos that Cosmos/ Jammers use. They are seen in Cosmo Gang the Video where it takes two hits to defeat them. When first hit they will attempt to charge at the player. Mini ufos are also seen in Cosmo Bazooka as targets to hit, in Cosmo Gang the Puzzle during the 10 stage breaks in the 100 puzzle mode, and in the comic from this one panel.

Hyperbeat:

The player's ship in Cosmo Gang the Video. It is used by the Cosmo Police Untoucher team and there are two of them. The one seen in art though is the white Hyperbeat which is actually the ship for player two in the game. The yellow ship for player one does not seem to have any art. The Hyperbeat can shoot a single basic shot on it's own but can be upgraded with a power up to shoot two shots at once! In artwork Ototoness is the only character seen in the Hyperbeat.

Patobeat:

The vehicle that was used in the Cosmo Police Untoucher elemecha game. There the Patobeat was piloted by Ototoness and used to hit the Cosmo Gang members. It is also seen in Cosmo Gang the Puzzle as Ottoness is the second player character in that game. It seems like the Patobeat was also the main ship used by Ottoness in the Untouchable Cosmo Police comic.

Patorider:

Not seen in any games, this bike-like vehicle is only seen used by Cool of the Untoucher team in some art work. It is also seen in that picture of the comic above, also used by Cool. A figure of this vehicle does exist though as one of the prizes from Cosmo Police Untoucher.

Bumpy:

Looks like the main vehicle the Untoucher team works from and it is not seen in any of the games. The only artwork of Bumpy comes from the CD booklet that came with Namco Game Sound Express Volume 8. It is described as having the ability to switch between a form that drives on the ground, to a flying form with arms. Possibly featured in the comic as well as seen in the picture above.

Note: all the comic pictures are from the same one page I was able to find off google.

2026 edit: slight correction to the leader's name (Ototoness)